Episode 111: Fun Holiday Workouts You Can Do at Home With Your Kids

In this episode of Fit Fueled and Busy, host Janine shares creative and kid-friendly workouts to keep the whole family active during the holiday season. With busy schedules, unpredictable weather, and kids at home, she introduces three engaging workouts: the 12 Days of Christmas workout, a deck of cards workout, and a family marathon relay. Each activity requires no fancy equipment and focuses on making fitness fun and inclusive. Janine also highlights the importance of maintaining a consistent strength training routine and introduces the 28-day Strength and Nutrition Jumpstart program for those seeking more structured guidance. Tune in for ideas to stay active, create memories, and keep fitness enjoyable this holiday season.

00:00 Welcome to Fit Fueled and Busy

00:52 The Importance of Movement During the Holidays

01:26 12 Days of Christmas Workout

04:03 Deck of Cards Workout

05:37 Family Marathon Challenge

06:50 Maintaining Fitness and Strength Training

07:59 Introducing the 28 Day Strength and Nutrition Jumpstart

09:02 Closing Thoughts and Holiday Wishes

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Transcript

0:23

Welcome back to Fit Fueled and Busy. I'm your host, Janine, and I'm so glad you're tuning in today. This week is all about fitness, and since we're right in the middle of the holiday season with full schedules, unpredictable weather, and kids being home more often, I wanted to focus on something light fun and family friendly. I mean, let's be honest, when the kids are out of school, at least for me, everything shifts. My morning routine sometimes is messed up. The cold temperatures all of a sudden has completely changed my evening walk or even lunch break, walk that I used to take and enjoy to get extra movement. And I don't know about you, but we've already had a few snow days and the kids are get restless. I get restless, and before long, everyone is pacing around the house saying that they're bored. But here's the thing. Movement is so important this time of year, not just for staying healthy, but for our sanity. Moving our body even a little bit can boost our mood, release some pent up energy, reduce stress, and really just help the whole house feel better. So today I'm sharing three fun, creative, and kid friendly workouts you can do right at home with zero fancy equipment. These workouts are perfect, not just for winter break or snow days, but truly any time you want to feel playful and bring the family together. So the first one is called the 12 Days of Christmas workout. This one is always a hit. It's festive, it's simple, and the kids love how it builds. Just like the song does. So here's how it works. Start with exercise number one and complete one rep. Then do exercises one and two, and you'll complete one rep and then two reps, and then one, two, and three, all the way up to 12. It gets more challenging as you go, but that's what makes it fun. Let your kids or family members help pick the exercises. They love the creativity and the ownership. So come up with that part together. So let me give you an example of what your 12 days might look like. And when I say 12 days, keep in mind this all happens at in one day and your just walking through the song, right? So number one might be star jumps. Number two, reverse lunges, three plank jacks. Four tricep dips, five burpees, six pushups, seven air squats, eight shoulder taps, nine skater jumps, 10 high knees, 11 sit-ups, and 12 plie squats. So if you're gonna complete this workout, you and your kids or your family members would come up with the exercises for those 12. Days or numbers in this case. And when you get ready to start the workout, you would perform number one. So you'd do one star jump and then you go one star jump, two reverse lunges, and then you would go one star jump, two reverse lunges, three plank jacks, and then one star jump, two reverse lunges, three plank jacks, four tricep dips, and so on and so forth. All the way until you've completed all 12 reps, all 12 rounds. Kids, especially love racing the clock or competing to see who can finish all 12 rounds first. So get out that timer, make it fun, make it competitive. And honestly, this workout feels more like a game than an exercise, which makes it way easier to keep everyone engaged. And I don't know about you, but my kids really do love working out with me whenever they have the opportunity to do so. So hopefully you guys can enjoy that one. Come up with it together again. The kids love being able to help assign what exercises they're going to do with each number. The second one is the deck of cards workout. If your family wants something more unpredictable and full of surprises, this one is perfect. So just grab a regular deck of cards and assign an exercise to each card or card value. So for example, an ace equals one rep numbers equal whatever their number is on the card. And king or queen equals 13 reps. Write out the list so no one forgets what movement goes with what card, and then just take turns drawing. Whatever you pull is what you do. So for example, if I pull a number five and we assigned an. Five reps of burpees. Anytime that a number five is coal is pulled, then I would do five burpees. Then the next person, maybe they pull in number seven, and we said Number seven equals air squats. Then I would do seven air squats, and you just pass the deck around and each pull a card and see what movement exercise you're going to do, and the number of reps, depending on the number of card or the card that you draw and see. What everybody gets. It's an easy equipment free way to sneak in some movement, and kids love the suspense of not knowing what's coming next. You can even assign silly exercises for the face cards to make it more fun for younger kids, but again, incorporate them into that planning process and assigning the exercises for each card. And finally this one takes things to another level, and it's amazing for building traditions. I've seen families designate a day Thanksgiving morning, Christmas Eve morning, or any day over a winter break and do a marathon together. Not the traditional. Everyone runs 26.2 miles, but more of a relay style marathon using whatever cardio equipment you have. So something like a rowing machine or a stationary bike, a treadmill, or even a walking marathon, you complete together outside if the weather allows. A few years ago, I saw a family move their rower into the living room, and each person took a shift. They tracked the marathon distance on the monitor and rotated through family members until they hit 26.2 miles. Honestly, I thought this looked so much fun and they did it every year, making it a memorable tradition. Honestly, this kind of challenge builds teamwork, accountability, and it's such a cool way to celebrate progress year after year. I can only imagine that even the kids would get excited to beat their previous times and contribute more miles as they get older. So yes, the holidays are busy. Yes, workouts might shift or be shorter, but that doesn't mean fitness has to disappear. When you get creative and you involve your family, movement becomes something everyone looks forward to, not something you have to squeeze in. And remember, even when you sprinkle in these. Fun family workouts. Keeping a consistent strength training routine is still important. If your goals include building muscle, improving your body composition and feeling strong, I always recommend lifting three to four days per week with progressive overload is what is ideal, but there's still plenty of room for fun. These playful workouts will show your kids that fitness isn't a punishment. It's something. To enjoy, right? And it can bring energy and be part of a healthy lifestyle because let's be honest, more is caught than taught. The more that you include them, the more that they see you being active and choosing to get up and be active. Even on those snow days when you're stuck inside, the more that they're gonna start to learn and see and feel for themselves what fitness can do for them. And if you're craving, guidance, accountability, a clear plan and a place to track your progress, but maybe you're not quite ready for full one-on-one coaching. I created something just for you. I'm introducing the 28 day strength and nutrition jumpstart from Couture Fitness Coaching. With this program, you'll get a three time per week at home straight training plan where you just use dumbbells or your body weight, a place to track your food and learn what you're really eating and how you're fueling your body. You get access to the private community forum for questions and support. There's tools in the app to log your measurements and see progress photos over time, and you also get access to a full recipe book with tons of easy, healthy meals. It's the perfect way to dip your toes into coaching, build momentum, and end the year, or start the next one, feeling strong so you can learn more at our website, couture fitness coaching.com. Thanks so much for tuning in to this week's episode of Fit Fueled and Busy. I hope these ideas inspire you to move your body, create some family fun memories, and keep fitness simple this holiday season. Stay warm, active, and keep moving this holiday season. I'll see you next Wednesday.